Bright Club is a collection of comedy-club-style events in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia promoting

public engagement Public engagement or public participation is a term that has recently been used to describe "the practice of involving members of the public in the agenda-setting, decision-making, and policy-forming activities of organizations/institutions respons ...

by scientists, academics and others with specialist knowledge. It has been described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as "a 'thinking person's' comedy night", and by ''

Londonist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...

'' as "where funny meets brains".

Format

Every event has a number of speakers, normally university researchers, each of whom gives a short, funny talk related to their area of knowledge and a theme for the night. There is a compere, and usually musicians play a set halfway through and at the end of the evening.

Development

Bright Club started at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

as the brainchild of Steve Cross and Miriam Miller. The first event was held in May 2009 and a Bright Club now happens in London once a month. Bright Club Manchester held its first event in May 2010 and now hosts events every few months. Bright Club Wales held its first event, in Cardiff, in November 2010. The

Centre for Life The Centre for Life is a science village in Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people work to promote the advancement of the life sciences. The centre is a registered charity, governed by a board of ...

in Newcastle upon Tyne launched their first Bright Club in July 2011, hosted by their Comedian in Residence,

Helen Keen Helen Keen is an English alternative comedian and writer born in Yorkshire, now living in London. She suffered with SM (Selective Mutism) as a child but overcame this before becoming a comedian. Career Keen was raised in Hull, East Riding of Yo ...

. Two more were held during 2011 and the events will continue into 2012. Bright Club Edinburgh launched during the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

with a show on the BBC@Potterrow stage on 24 August 2011 following a preview gig on 26 July. Regular shows take place at the Stand Comedy Club. Bright Club Glasgow was launched on 17 November 2011 at The Admiral Bar. In 2012, Bright Club participated in

Glasgow International Comedy Festival Glasgow International Comedy Festival is a comedy festival in Glasgow, Scotland. The comedy festival started in 2002 and is held annually in March in venues across the city. The festival is supported financially by Glasgow City Council and sinc ...

and shows were also included in the programme for Glasgow Science Festival. Regular shows take place at

The Stand Comedy Club The Stand Comedy Club is a chain of three stand-up comedy venues in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Newcastle upon Tyne. History The Stand hosted its first regular club night on Thursday, 21 September 1995, in the small basement of W.J. C ...

. There has been a one-off Bright Club in Brighton and a small number of 500-seater Bright Clubs in the Bloomsbury Theatre. Steve Cross won the Joshua Phillips award for innovation in science engagement in a ceremony at the Manchester Science Festival in October 2010. Bright Club Bristol began in September 2011 and operates on a quarterly basis. It is produced by Sounds of Science team who created Geek Pop. Bright Clubs have also been held in Australia. Bright Club events were held in Sydney in January 2012 as part of the 2012 Sydney Festival and Bright Club Melbourne started in April 2013. The first Bright Club Melbourne event was part of the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

and took place in the

Howard Florey Institute The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, more commonly known as the Florey Institute, is an Australian medical research institute that undertakes clinical and applied research into treatments for brain and mind disorders and the ...

.
Bright Club Oxford
began in October 2013, running three times a year at the Jericho Tavern pub. Bright Club St Andrews began in February 2014, running bimonthly during university term time. Bright Club events have been running in Ireland since 2015. Shows take place in Dublin, Galway, Cork and other locations, and are centrally coordinated by director Jessamyn Fairfield.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Comedy clubs in the United Kingdom Events in London Culture in Manchester Culture in Cardiff